


Amor vincit omnia

by stealing-jasons-job (changingthefairy_tale)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Anomaly (The 100 (TV)), Basically S7 without Bellamy's absense, Bellarke, BellarkeFic4BLM, Canon-Typical Violence, I mean it's me so you know it's angst, Minor Becho, Multi, Mutual Pining, The 100 (TV) Season 7 Speculation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25816393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/changingthefairy_tale/pseuds/stealing-jasons-job
Summary: Peace has never come easy, and this new planet is no exception. Less than 24 hours after taking down the Primes and quelling the violence in Sanctum, Clarke is thrown back into an impossible situation. Octavia's been stabbed by a woman who has no memory of who she is or why she's here before disappearing into the anomaly. And Bellamy and Echo have followed after her,  leaving Clarke to get backup before racing after them. Who knows what's waiting for them on the other side.**Basically, S7 reimagined as if Bellamy's absence didn't exist.**P.S. Will add tags and update the rating as I go!
Relationships: Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Bellamy Blake/Echo, Clarke Griffin & Gabriel Santiago | Xavier, Clarke Griffin & John Murphy, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes
Comments: 17
Kudos: 43
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	Amor vincit omnia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [So_Katastrophic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/So_Katastrophic/gifts).



> This fic is part of the Bellarke Fic for BLM initiative. We are taking The 100 fic and creator prompts (both Bellarke and non-Bellarke) in exchange for a donation of any size to an organization that supports the BLM cause. You can learn more about this initiative and how to submit a prompt on our dedicated Tumblr page.
> 
> ___
> 
> Prompt: 
> 
> A redo of season seven if Bellamy had been there from the beginning, starting sometime around his hug with Clarke in 6x13 ends, and whenever he would have trekked off to the anomaly stone with Octavia and kru. I’d love if he could somehow still go missing and Clarke has to look for him (I was dying for this parallel to him saving her last season), but having Clarke still stay behind in Sanctum or change it up and have her go with them to the stone is up to you. If you want, everything can even still happen as it has in the season so far…just with Bellamy there and Bellarke actually coming together in a way that makes sense and has them make actual, clear ROMANTIC progress. If you don’t want it to stay the same as it has so far in the season, change it up. Again: totally up to you. Go where the muse takes you!

Today is a good day. 

Clarke’s almost hesitant to even think it for fear of the universe ripping it out from under her. But both suns are high in the sky, a breeze is blowing, and everyone left that she cares about is sitting on one of the blankets laid out in front of Russell’s old farmhouse at the edge of Sanctum. 

It feels a little like peace, the start of a new beginning for everyone. 

She looks around at this makeshift family sprawled across the blankets. Emori and Murphy are tangled up in each other — Murphy was the last one of the original delinquents that Clarke would have considered domestic, but she has to admit that she loves seeing him happy after all the pain he’s been through. 

Raven, Jordan, and Madi are trying to catch grapes in their mouth. Madi’s been more carefree, more like herself, since the flame’s been removed. And Jordan is a good influence on her, another of the “second generation,” so-to-speak, even if he is technically Clarke’s age and Madi isn’t her biological child. 

Everyone else is eating and chatting amongst themselves. It reminds her a little of the early days of The Dropship, though the threat of war with the grounders and starvation weren't hanging over their heads, and they have all grown up significantly. 

Though everyone is smiling and happy this afternoon, Clarke can’t help but let her mind wander to the ones missing from this picnic — Monty and Harper, Jasper, Wells, Finn, Kane, her parents...even Octavia, though she’s still out there beyond the wall somewhere with Diyoza. 

“Monty would have loved this place,” a deep voice to her left pulls Clarke out of her thoughts. Bellamy’s propped up next to her, looking at the scene in front of them. 

Though the past couple of weeks have been nothing short of hell, something between them had finally clicked back into place upon them landing on Sanctum. The heart and the head back in sync, reading each other as they did almost 150 years ago on a different planet. 

“They all would have,” she sighs, smiling sadly. 

“You did good here, Clarke,” he almost whispers, his hand hesitantly reaching out to cover hers where it’s picking at a loose thread in the seam of her pants. Her hand stills under his, and she nods. 

_ Not good enough _ , she thinks to herself. But she knows Bellamy would just argue with her about it, and she doesn’t want to fight about her past mistakes right now. No, right now, she wants to enjoy the first day of peace with her friends. 

There will be a ton of work rebuilding Sanctum and keeping the peace, but right now they can bask in the promise of a new world. 

When he doesn’t move his hand right away, she forces herself to look at him. He’s worried about her — she can tell. It’s etched across his features from the tight line of his smile and the furrow of his brows. The look is one she knows well from their days fighting side-by-side on Earth. 

“If you need forgiveness, I’ll give that to you. It’s what we do, Clarke.” She nods slightly, not responding right away. She breaks eye contact, not wanting him to read her thoughts, and her eyes catch Echo’s. The former spy had been much more watchful of Bellamy and Clarke since they came back after eliminating Josephine — Clarke supposes she’s worried Josephine is still in her mind, waiting for any signs of threat. 

Almost against her will, her mind rewinds to the night they first got to Sanctum when they were sitting by the fire at the lake. 

_ Who knows forgiveness better than us? _ Echo had said to him that night, almost so softly Clarke hadn’t heard them. She’d wanted to respond something along the lines of,  _ We do, actually, _ but she’d bitten her tongue. 

Their last weeks on Earth, she hadn’t exactly been subtle with her jealousy, and she was working on being better. Bellamy had thought she was dead, not waiting for him to return to her in the valley, not fantasizing about him helping her raise Madi while she called him on the radio every night. It isn’t his fault he’d moved on, and she isn’t going to fault him for it. She just needs to move on. 

“What the hell, Jackson?” 

The clattering of a glass and Emori’s sharp voice pulls Clarke back to the present. Murphy has water dripping from his chin and soaking his shirt. 

“He doesn’t get to sit here acting like he’s mourning Abby and celebrating Clarke when he helped Josephine trick all of us and helped Russell kill Abby,” Jackson spits out. If looks could kill, not even Murphy’s cockroach skills would be able to save him. 

“Enough!” Emori defends Murphy, who just looks across the blanket at Clarke. Dark circles are pronounced against his pale skill, and ghosts fill his bloodshot eyes. He looks haunted in a way Clarke recognizes. She used to see it in the mirror. 

Everyone quiets down, waiting to see what happens. Clarke and Murphy have had a tenuous relationship at best, but she doesn’t blame him for what happened. She knew Murphy, understood him even. He did what he thought he had to in order to survive, in order for Emori to survive. 

“I swear... I didn’t, I, I, I didn’t know. Not that you were alive, and not that they were going to do that to Abby…” Clarke sees the tears threatening to fall from her own eyes matched in Murphy’s. 

“I believe you, Murphy. I believe you,” she nods. 

“You don’t seriously-” Jackson starts, but Miller elbows him. They exchange a look, Jackson’s filled with rage and Miller’s more a warning. Clarke just sighs. 

“We’ve all made mistakes. God knows I have. But now we get a fresh start here.” She takes a breath to look around at each face that makes up her new family, her people. “And it’s not perfect, and it’s not what we pictured when we dreamed of peace on the ground. But it’s ours.” 

Her eyes finally meet Bellamy’s, and he gives her a soft smile and supporting nod as she continues. “So let’s stop blaming each other, and just...enjoy the sunshine and the lunch Raven made, okay?” 

At that, the tension deflates a little bit. Bellamy raises his glass. “To peace on the ground.” 

“To peace on the ground,” everyone’s voices chorus after him. Clarke gives him an appreciative smile before turning back to her own meal. 

They spend the afternoon basking in the sun and discussing room arrangements. Clarke had commandeered the master in the farmhouse for herself and Madi. It has its own bathroom, and this way she can stay out of everyone’s way a little more. 

Murphy and Emori want to stay in the castle, as do Niylah and Jordan. But Clarke holds firm that there’s more than enough room for everyone in the farmhouse. No one needs to associate them with taking over for the Primes, so the castle remains off limits. 

Otherwise, the rest of the day goes pretty smoothly. It’s after dinner time when Bellamy pulls Clarke aside. 

“Echo and I are going back out to Gabriel’s. I, uh…” 

“You need to talk to Octavia. I get it,” Clarke assures him. “Do you want me to go with you?” She thinks she sees relief flood his eyes, but it’s quickly replaced by something that looks a lot more like guilt. 

“I know you have Madi. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

“Bellamy,” she reaches out to take his hand as he did for her earlier. “Give me 10 minutes and we can all head out, okay?” He nods, squeezing her hand before walking off toward Echo, presumably to tell her the plan. 

She gets Madi settled for the night with a promise from Gaia to look after her until she returns. Clarke’s thankful for the flemkepa’s continued dedication to Madi, even if she’s not longer technically the commander. That’s another problem to solve tomorrow — how to tell Wonkru that the flame is no longer in Madi’s head. 

But tonight, she’s going to support her best friend as he tries to mend things with his sister. 

As she approaches Echo and Bellamy at the gate minutes later, she overhears the last bit of their argument. 

“Josephine’s gone, Bellamy. You can let her out of your sight,” Echo all but hisses, arms crossed over her chest in annoyance. 

“Clarke has been by my side with Octavia since we first got to the ground. This isn’t about me being worried about her, this is about me wanting support from a friend. Sorry that’s a foreign concept to you,” he snaps back.  _ Oh, they are fighting about her.  _

As soon as the words leave his mouth, his face falls. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” 

“We both know you did,” she says quietly. Before Bellamy can respond, Echo looks up and sees Clarke awkwardly standing a few yards away. 

“I don’t have to go…” she sharts hesitantly. Clarke’s never been one to doubt herself, but something about every single interaction with Echo since Praimfaya has made Clarke question herself, at least in how she is supposed to interact with Bellamy. 

“No, you should come,” Bellamy says, shooting Echo a look. She sighs, but gives a small nod as they all turn to go. 

The trek out to Gabriel’s camp is quiet, awkward. But once they get there, it’s a commotion of movement. 

Clarke can hear Gabriel’s voice from outside the tent. Whatever he’s talking about has him excited, though from what little Clarke knows about him, just about everything makes him excited. 

As they enter, Gabriel is pacing and gesturing wildly with one hand while the other holds the paper he’s studying. 

“This is incredible, just incredible.” Clarke has to admit it’s kind of cute, this tower of a man nerding out about science. It reminds her of Bellamy and his obsession with old earth history. 

“They’re symbols Gabe. And I still have no recollection of how they got there or what they mean,” Octavia says slouched on the couch, obviously a little bored and frustrated at Gabriel’s enthusiasm. 

“What’s incredible?” Clarke asks. Both look up at her voice, and Gabriel comes over to hand her the paper. 

“What are we looking at?” Echo jumps in, confused. There are black and red symbols written in a swirl of a pattern across the sheet. 

“Octavia went into the anomaly and came back out with zero memory of what she saw. But she now has a massive tattoo that spans across her back with that pattern of symbols.” As the three of them scanned the page, heads bent toward each other, Clarke points out a familiar one. 

“The Flame. That symbol is the same one that was on the Flame.” 

“Yes, but that symbol is an infinity sign. It was once a wildly popular cultural symbol from when Becca created the Flame, and it’s also a math symbol. I’m not sure there’d be a correlation,” Gabriel points out. But Clarke can’t quite shake the idea that the two might be connected. 

_ Can the Flame not just stay dead? Why must it continue to haunt them all from a universe away? _

“Here, I have something to show you guys,” Gabriel continues, beckoning them to follow him further inside. He crouches down to move away a few dusty mats on the floor, revealing a hatch. After opening it, he gestures for them to follow him down the ladder and into the small bunker. 

Gabriel lights a few torches to illuminate the space, and the four stare at the alien object in front of them, shocked. 

A massive bronze orb is...floating off the ground. The middle is hollow, surrounded by a swirled outer covering — the same patterned swirl as the tattoo. 

“What is this thing?” Bellamy asks in confusion. 

“I found it when I first left Sanctum. It’s thousands of years old, but we have no idea who made it or what exactly it does. Or what gravitational field is holding it off the ground,” Gabriel explains, walking closer to it. You can hear the obvious curiosity and almost reverence in his voice as he lifts a hand to ghost over the markings. 

Though the orb doesn’t make any noise, the silence it emanates is almost deafening. 

“We do believe this is what sucks in all the radio signals, though. It’s why we built our camp on top of it — it's harder for the Primes to coordinate an attack if their communication devices fail the closer they get to us.” 

“The symbols match up.” Echo grabs the paper to inspect more closely. “The red ones...It’s a code,” she mumbles, sounding a little awestruck herself. 

“Very good,” Gabriel says in agreement. “And now we’re about to find out what it’s the code to.” 

But before Gabriel can start hitting the symbols, Bellamy steps forward. “Wait, we shouldn’t mess with that thing if we don’t know what it does. It could kill us all.” 

“Bellamy is right,” Echo says. “We have no idea what will happen if we input that code. At the very least, we need backup.” 

“If we get backup, that just puts more people in danger. We’re not going to know what this is until we test out the code. Octavia went into the anomaly and came out fine. She’s the one with the code. We should see this through,” Clarke reasons. 

“We really are on another planet if Clarke Griffin is the one suggesting jumping in head first,” Bellamy teases, shooting her a smirk she hasn’t seen in a long time — not since they were riding in a rover wearing radiation suits over a century ago. Her stomach does a flip, something else that hasn’t happened in a long time. 

“New planet, new Clarke,” she smirks back at him. “We’ve got three soldiers, a trained healer, and a doctor who has the most knowledge about the anomaly with us. And we know this stone somehow connects to Octavia’s time in the anomaly. I’d rather figure out that connection before it becomes a danger to all of our friends in Sanctum, wouldn’t you?” 

He looks at her a moment before sighing. “Put in the code.” 

Clarke looks to Echo with eyebrows raised, wanting her on board. The former spy didn’t look pleased, but nodded her head in silent agreement. 

“If you don’t agree, I want you to say something. Not just agree with the majority,” Clarke points out. It isn't all up to Bellamy and Clarke anymore to make the decisions — unilaterally deciding what’s best without everyone’s input is what got them into this mess on another planet to begin with. 

Echo looks a little surprised at Clarke’s statement, but she just shakes her head again. “You make a good point. And I trust Bellamy — if he says it’s a good idea, I say we go with it.” 

Clarke opened her mouth to argue back that just because she trusted Bellamy didn’t mean she had to follow him blindly if she didn’t agree. Bellamy was known to make questionable decisions from time to time just like the rest of them. But it wasn’t her place to comment on their relationship. Plus, why would she want to argue against her own plan. 

WIth a short nod of her own, Clarke turns back to Gabriel, signaling him to go ahead with the code. 

He circles around the orb in concentration as he picks out the correct symbols in their order. With each symbol touched, a low sound almost like a hum fills the room. 

“Moment of truth,” he mumbles right before he presses his hand to the final symbol. 

Nothing happens. 

“No, no, no, this can’t be right,” Gabriel says, almost frantic as he looks back between the paper and the floating stone. 

But then the ground starts to shake beneath them. The low hum from pressing the symbols grows louder, and green light shines in from the hatch above them. 

Gabriel dashes up the ladder. 

“Wait, Gabriel!” Octavia calls out, rushing up after him. The other three look at each other for a split second before following. 

As they get above ground, the earth is shaking like a minor earthquake back on Earth. Books and glass containers are rattling in Gabriels’ tend, and green light casts everything in a neon glow. 

“The anomaly. It opened the anomaly,” Gabriel almost whispers in awe. Clarke is turning in circles, waiting for whatever comes next. Would the anomaly take them? 

Octavia suddenly straightens, understanding in her eyes. “She’s here.” 

“Who is here?” Bellamy demands. 

A figure emerges into the tent from the green storm raging outside the tent. 

“Diyoza?” Octavia asks, stepping forward. Bellamy grabs her arm to hold her back, but Clarke reaches out a hand to stop him. Diyoza? Octavia had told them that she’d gone into the anomaly before but never came out. 

But the woman who steps fully into the tent is not Charmaine Diyoza. It’s a young woman, with her dirty blonde hair in buns on top of her head and fear written all over her face.    
  


“Hope?” Octavia steps forward with her arms open, a loving and almost maternal look on her face. 

“Auntie O,” the blonde breathes a sigh of relief at seeing the other. 

The younger woman immediately crashes into Octavia’s embrace as the rest of them exchange looks. Hope? Auntie O? Bellamy and Gabriel both give a small shrug, meaning neither of the two have heard of or met this person before. 

The anomaly is still swirling outside the tent doors, making it too loud to hear what Octavia and Hope are saying. 

“Octavia? What’s happening?” Bellamy calls out over the noise, stepping forward. But then Octavia stumbles back into his arms, a red stain growing on her abdomen. Hope stabbed her. 

Echo moves forward to restrain Hope, as Bellamy cradles his sister in his arms. 

“It’s okay, big brother. I’ll be alright,” she says strained before she disappears in front of their eyes. Clarke’s widen at what she’s witnessed. Over the years, she’s seen a lot of shit, from two-headed deer to an entire AI civilization to new planets. She’s never seen someone just poof into thin air. 

But that’s exactly what Octavia does — she disintegrates into green smoke as the anomaly recedes as fast as it came. In a heartbeat, Octavia is gone and has taken the anomaly with it. 

Bellamy doesn’t hesitate before running outside, and the rest of them are only seconds behind him. 

“OCTAVIA!” he screams in anguish. The green light of the anomaly is receding fast, and he dashes after it. 

“Bellamy, don’t!” Clarke calls after him, but he’s sprinting at full speed through the forest, fading fast into green. She takes off to go after him, but Gabriel catches her arm. 

“Too dangerous. Going into the anomaly blind could be disastrous,” he warns. 

“He can’t go alone,” she seethes, yanking her arm from out of his grasp. Clarke takes off after him, not hesitating to see if the others follow. She knows Echo won’t be far behind. 

The two women run through the forest, ducking around trees and jumping over roots and rocks. Neither are familiar with the terrain, and the anomaly haze makes it harder for them to see where they’re going. 

When they get to the clearing, they both stop in their tracks. The anomaly is a column of green smoke and light, tunneling into the air higher than Clarke can see. This must be the epicenter. 

Both women look at each other, nodding in silent solidarity. They would go in together to get Bellamy and Octavia. 

But before they could take their first step forward, an invisible force knocks them both onto their backs. 

The air rushes out of Clarke’s lungs with the impact. What the hell? She scrambles up, pulling out her gun, circling and scanning their surroundings as Echo does the same at her back. 

“Did you see anything?” 

“Nothing.” 

They both start moving toward the anomaly again, only to be brutally pushed aside by the same invisible force. 

Echo shoots blindly toward the direction of the ambush, and hits something. A black-suited figure falls to the ground. Two more appear, and she shoots him down as well. 

If there are any others waiting, 

“Who are these guys?” Clarke asks, getting to her feet once more. 

“Don’t know, don’t care. Let’s go. It looks like the anomaly is shrinking.” She makes her move toward the anomaly, this time not being stopped by anything or anyone. 

Clarke hesitates, looking at the three soldier-looking figures on the ground. 

“We should wait a minute!” she calls out. “We don’t know who these people are, or where they came from. What if we’re walking into a trap?” 

“Then Bellamy’s already knee-deep in it. Let’s go!” 

“How does us walking into the same trap without backup or a plan help him? Echo, let’s think this through,” Clarke tries to reason with her. Every cell in her body is itching to run headfirst into the anomaly, after Bellamy and presumably Octavia, too. But what about the rest of their people back in Sanctum? And what about the people in these suits? Who are they, and what are they here for? 

“And you say you care about him,” the other woman scoffs before turning back to run into the anomaly. 

“Echo!” the blonde calls out again after her, but it’s no use. She’s already disappeared into the green haze, right as it closes into nothing. The green light and smoke is gone, leaving the clearing in a quiet, sunset haze. 

Clarke slumps back down to the ground, catching her breath. Her mind is spinning. What the actual hell just happened? First with the floating orb, then with O, and now Bellamy and Echo disappearing into the anomaly before it closes. 

None of it makes any sense. 

She pulls herself to her feet, assessing what to do about the bodies. There’s no way she can drag them all back to Gabriel’s tent on her own, but she’s also hesitant to leave them, lest the anomaly open back up to collect them. At this point, they were the only clue Clark has to help get Octavia, Bellamy, and Echo. 

Well, these suits and Hope, the strange woman who stabbed Octavia. 

She decides to risk it by leaving the bodies, running back to Gabriel’s camp as fast as she can. Gabriel has an unconscious Hope laid out on his table just as she had been less than a few days before. 

“What happened to her?” she asks as she enters. 

“She fainted right after you guys took off, but come look at this.” He’s studying something on Hope’s face and scribbling into a notebook. There are symbols painted into her cheeks and foreheads, symbols that match the anomaly. 

“What does this mean?” 

“No clue. But it definitely means that it’s all connected. Octavia going into the anomaly yet coming out with no memories, Hope’s appearance, the symbols…” he trails off in thought. 

“Well, we can figure out all of this later. I need your help with something.” 

He looks up at her, questioning. 

“Echo and I were attacked near the clearing. Invisible soldiers. Echo took them down, but they are wearing some kind of specialized suit. I need your help dragging them back here.” 

Gabriel has a four-wheeled motorized bike that they attach a sheet to the back of to drag the soldiers back to the tent. While Hope is still knocked out and being machine monitored, Gabriel starts to inspect the suits. 

“See what you can figure out about what those suits do, and why the people wearing them were so hell-bent on us not going into the anomaly,” Clarke says as she grabs one of the bike helmets. 

“Where are you going?” 

“To get backup. We’ll need it if we’re going to get our people back.” He just nods in agreement with her, gesturing with his head for her to head out. She gives him a wry smile before ducking out of the 

She’s only known this man for a couple days, but she already trusts him. Maybe it’s because of the role he played in saving her life, despite the fact that he was ending the life of the woman he loved. Maybe it’s all of Josie’s memories still floating around in her head. Maybe it’s the way he backed her play with Russell when she was close to breaking because of her mother. 

Whatever the reason, Clarke’s thankful to have the doctor on their side. 

She races back to Sanctum, giving Raven and Miller instructions to grab bikes and head out to Gabriel’s tent. They now had maps and should be able to find their way no problem. 

Miller heads off with a nod, no questions asked. God, she was thankful for his loyalty over the years, despite having done very little to truly earn it. Raven didn’t look too happy, but thankfully didn’t argue. 

Then she goes off to find Murphy, Emori, and Madi — thankfully, they’re all together. 

Madi is playing soccer (her new favorite pastime, it would seem) with some of the Sanctum kids while Murphy and Emori cheer them on while eating. She smiles at she approaches. 

“Clarke, didn’t you go with Echo and Bellamy out to Gabriel’s?” Emori questions as she approaches. 

“Something happened. That’s actually why I’m back,” she starts before trailing off. She looks out at Madi, playing carefree with people her age. This is the first time she’s really had the opportunity, and Clarke is already hating the fact that she’s missing out on watching her adoptive daughter experience this. 

But mother or not, things have to get done. It’s how it always is, and it seems as though that won’t end anytime soon. 

“Are they okay?” Emori asks, eyes filled with concern. 

“It’s...complicated. And I really don’t have time to explain it. They went into the anomaly, and Raven, Miller, and I are going with Gabriel to get them back. I need a favor from you while we’re gone.” 

She looks between the two of them, questioning momentarily if asking them to look after Madi was the right move. Is it fair of her to expect them to care for a kid who isn’t their own, someone they only met weeks prior? 

But one look at her nervous face and Murphy apparently understands. He reaches out to place a hand on her arm. 

“We’ll keep Madi safe,” he promises, looking her in the eyes. Clarke nods, thankful for him. They’d been through a lot together and done a lot to each other over the years, but she knew she could trust him to keep her safe while she was away. 

“She’ll be in good hands,” Emori echoes after him with a soft smile. Clarke lets out a large exhale, smiling back at the two of them. 

“Thank you, truly. I’ll be back as soon as I can, with the others in tow.” 

She stands to leave, waving Madi over from her game. The former commander bounds over, a massive grin on her face. 

“Clarke! Come play soccer with us! Leo and Rex are just teaching me the rules.” 

“I wish I could, kiddo,” she says with a soft smile. “Look, I’ve got to help Octavia and Bellamy and Echo for a few days, okay? But while I’m gone, Murphy and Emori are going to keep an eye on you. And you know you can always ask Gaia and Indra for help, too.” 

“I want to come with you!” Her carefree demeanor is immediately replaced with the fire of the child she first found on Earth. 

“No, I need you to stay here. Go to school, make new friends, give Murphy a little extra sass.” She smirks at that last part, seeing Madi’s smile. Murphy was always one of her favorites in Clarke’s stories, for whatever reason. “I’ll be back soon. I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” Clarke gives her daughter a fierce hug and a quick kiss on top of her head. 

Madi runs back to play with her friends, and she gives Murphy and Emori one last smile before turning to leave. 

“Hey, Griffin,” Murphy calls out after her. When she turns to look at him, he’s giving her that signature smirk — that damn lopsided, arrogant smirk that used to piss her off during their dropship days. “Be a cockroach.” 

A smile breaks across her face. She nods back at him. 

By the time she gets back out to Gabriel’s, Miller and Raven are already there. Hope is also awake. 

“Finally,” Raven says as soon as she walks into the tent, tossing her a helmet. “Time to suit up.” 

“Wait, what did you guys learn?” she asks, confused. 

“Blondie claims to not have any memory of the whole Octavia incident or where she came from before this. Oh, and Gabe here thinks the suits control the anomaly,” Miller clarifies. Clarke’s eyes widen. 

“They _ control _ the anomaly?” 

“Or, at the very least, they can navigate it. When you put on the helmets, they sync with the neural activity in your brain, and acts like a database of knowledge. Put it on, and you’ll see what I’m talking about,” he explains. 

She pulls the helmet over her head. Once it’s secured, the pitch-black screen in front of her illuminates with what seems to be a map of space. 

“Oh my god,” she mutters, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes dart around the screen, zeroing in on different stars and planets as she focuses on them, listing their names and relevant information. When she looks more closely at a planet, this one named Etherea, the map switches to a dashboard screen with all of the planet’s information what looks like a code of symbols for the anomaly stone. 

She pulls the helmet off her head, eyes round as she looks at the others. 

“Have we figured out who the people are who had these suits?” 

“No, but if we put on the suits, we should be able to follow Bellamy and Octavia. From there, we’ll just have to wing it,” Gabriel shrugs. He’s got that same spark of interest in his eye as Raven — two sides of the same tech nerd coin. 

They decide that Miller, Raven, and Hope should wear the suits. Clarke and Gabriel will stay connected to one of them at all times as they go through the anomaly so that no one gets separated. 

“Okay, so let’s go through this one more time,” Miller says as they stand before the anomaly stone. “Raven, you’ll input the code to the planet where the suits say the anomaly was open to most recently. Then we all walk through at the same time. And then…” 

“We wing it,” Gabriel finishes, shrugging. 

“Perfect plan,” Miller grumbles beneath his breath. 

Raven inputs the code on the stone, stepping back once it’s done. They all interlock hands, waiting for the green light of the anomaly to open. 

“Ready for this?” Raven asks the group. They were about to step into the literal unknown. Who knows where they would end up, or what would be waiting for them on the other side. They had no idea who they were dealing with, or where Bellamy, Echo, and Octavia had gone. 

God, it was all a mess. Less than one day of peace, and they were already back to risking their lives against a new adversary. 

Clarke chastises herself.  _ You knew better than to think today was going to be a good day.  _

She sighs, straightening up and tightening her grip on the hands flanking her sides. She then takes the first step into the anomaly with determination. 

“Let’s get our people back.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed Ch. 1! Thanks for reading, and any kudos/comments/feedback. 🥰Come hang out with me on Tumblr @changingthefairy-tale!


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